Seat belt restraining systems are positioned in automobiles in a standard arrangement that includes a lap belt for securing a passenger's lower torso and a shoulder belt for securing a passenger's upper torso. The lap belt and shoulder belt arrangement ensures that a passenger is safely secured in the automobile. The lap belt, typically, is adjustable thereby permitting passengers of varying sizes to adjust the lap belt for personal comfort. For example, a smaller passenger may tighten his adjustable lap belt to achieve a secure fit between the lap belt and the passenger's lower torso while a larger passenger may loosen his adjustable lap belt to achieve a secure fit between the lap belt and the passenger's lower torso.
Although the standard seat belt arrangement typically includes an adjustable lap belt, the arrangement does not include an adjustable shoulder belt. More particularly, the standard seat belt arrangement does not permit a passenger to adjust the positioning of the shoulder belt across the passenger's chest and neck. For example, a passenger of shorter than average height often has the shoulder belt uncomfortably extending across the passenger's neck when the passenger buckles himself into an automobile. As a result, the passenger may forgo the use of the entire seat belt arrangement because of the discomfort caused by the shoulder belt portion of the arrangement. As can readily be appreciated, such forbearance by the passenger places the passenger at risk when the automobile is in motion.
As a consequence of the above-described situation, there has been a long standing need for a device that can be attached to the standard seat belt arrangement to enable a passenger to adjust the shoulder strap portion of the seat belt arrangement. A few inventions have attempted to meet this long standing need. U.S. Pat. No. 5,080,396 to Vacanti is directed to a clip device for seat belts. The Vacanti device can be attached to the shoulder and lap belts of a seat belt arrangement to adjust the positioning of the lap and seat belts. However, the clips of the Vacanti device are interconnected by a resilient tether member which must be kept taut to ensure that the clips are maintained in the proper positions on the shoulder and lap belts. As can be readily appreciated, if a passenger reaches forward to adjust a control on the automobile's dashboard it is likely that the resilient tether member of Vacanti will loosen thereby permitting the clip members to move. The movement of the clip members will, in turn, cause the shoulder and lap belts to move out of position on the passenger. Therefore, the Vacanti device can be easily moved out of position as a passenger shifts within the automobile.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,826,250 to Ibanez is directed to a seat belt slack adjusting device. The Ibanez device attaches to an upper portion of a shoulder belt adjacent to a support loop through which the shoulder belt passes. The support loop is typically attached to the ceiling or upper door frame of the automobile. In operation, a passenger can pull the shoulder belt until the shoulder belt is slack. Afterwards, the passenger can attach the Ibanez device to an upper portion of the shoulder belt and release the shoulder belt. As the shoulder belt is retracted by a shoulder belt retraction mechanism located near the bottom of the door frame, the Ibanez device comes into contact with the support loop. At this point the Ibanez device prevents the retraction mechanism from pulling any further length of the shoulder belt through the support loop. As a result, the shoulder belt is left in a slack condition which, presumably, enables a user to move the shoulder strap to a desired position. However, there is nothing preventing the slack shoulder belt from being moved out of position. Therefore, the Ibanez device fails to provide a means for maintaining the shoulder belt in the position desired by the passenger.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,832,367 to Lisenby is directed to a belt restraining apparatus that permits a user to adjust the position a shoulder belt. The belt restraining apparatus can be manipulated by a user to form a first loop for engaging a lap belt and a second loop for engaging a shoulder belt. Each loop is formed via hook and loop fasteners such as those sold under the "Velcro" trademark. Although the Lisenby apparatus represents an improvement over the conventional seat belt adjusters discussed above, the Lisenby apparatus has a potentially serious drawback. In particular, the hook and loop fasteners of the Lisenby apparatus are likely to disengage or "sheer" when a large force is exerted against the lap and shoulder belts. Therefore, Lisenby fails to provide a means for maintaining the shoulder belt in the position desired by the user in the event of a large force being asserted against the lap and shoulder belts.